Hari-katu: Basque as language, emotion, and community in residential care homes for children and adolescents in the protection system

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2026.48.06

Keywords:

Minority languages, translanguaging, organised leisure, informal speech, residential care

Abstract

This article presents the results of the Hari-Katu programme, developed in eleven residential care homes in Gipuzkoa with 66 children and adolescents aged between 8 and 15, eleven social educators and two pedagogues. The initiative has promoted the relational use of Basque in non-formal contexts through Emotional and Conscious Translanguaging (ECT), which builds on the linguistic repertoires of each participant and integrates organised leisure and playful activities. The main objective has been to analyse the impact of the programme on motivation and attachment to Basque, as well as its pedagogical and linguistic implications for the educational team. A mixed-methods design has been employed, with the simultaneous collection of qualitative and quantitative data through Likert-scale questionnaires, evaluation journals, focus groups, interviews and field notes. The findings highlight a positive effect on motivation, linguistic attachment and the spontaneous use of Basque, as well as on the involvement of the educational team in its promotion.

 

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Author Biographies

Odei Guirado, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU

Profesor en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU) y doctorando en el programa de Lengua, Cultura y Educación de la misma universidad. Su labor académica articula la educación no formal, la sociolingüística y la defensa de los derechos lingüísticos y culturales de la infancia y la adolescencia. Ha coordinado diversos proyectos orientados a la promoción del euskera a través del ocio educativo y es autor de varias publicaciones científicas en revistas de alto impacto. Su trayectoria investigadora ha sido reconocida en varias ocasiones por la Euskaltzaindia (Real Academia de la Lengua Vasca).

Joana Miguelena, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, UPV/EHU

Joana Miguelena holds a PhD in Education, is a teacher and resercher at the Faculty of Education of the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (EHU) and belongs to the research group IkasGaraia: Education, Culture and Sustainable Development. Her research career revolves around issues related to the rights of children and adolescents cared in residential care; transit to adulthood of this group that leaves a protection measure; educational itineraries and social networks among the group in residential care. She has participated in several national and international competitive, territorial and private research projects.) She is author and co-author of publications in different high impact journals and book chapters. She has also coordinated 3 books.

María Dosil-Santamaría, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, UPV/EHU

Lecturer in the Department of Educational Sciences, in the section of Research and Diagnostic Methods in Education of the Faculty of Education of Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU). She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and Specific Didactics (UPV/EHU). She has participated in more than 15 research projects and has more than 60 publications. Index h24.

Aintzane Rodríguez, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, UPV/EHU

Aintzane Rodriguez Poza, PhD in Education by the PhD program School, Language and Society and graduated in Pedagogy, is currently a professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). She belongs to the IkasGaraia Research Group: Education, Culture and Sustainable Development. Most of her scientific production revolves around the protection of girls, boys and adolescents under the protection measure of residential foster care; the analysis of educational itineraries and the factors that may influence them, the transition to adult life, among others.

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Published

2025-12-19

How to Cite

Guirado, O., Miguelena, J., Dosil-Santamaría, M., & Rodríguez, A. (2025). Hari-katu: Basque as language, emotion, and community in residential care homes for children and adolescents in the protection system. Pedagogia Social Revista Interuniversitaria, (48), 97–112. https://doi.org/10.7179/PSRI_2026.48.06

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